Naoki Maru builds boxing robots and his sons Kenta and Ryoma operate them in the combat tournaments. His robot King Kizer is the champion of Robo-One, a robot competition category of bipedal humanoid robots. Maru is trying out a harness that captures human movements and translates them into robotic attacks and other gestures to make his King Kizer a more unbeatable bot.
I'm not a fan of mooncakes but I'm sure that those of you who are, will be tempted to eat this USB Mooncake Flash Drive. It looks so darn real!
(Thanks GeekGod)
AIMS (Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society) has drafted its consultation paper for the Singapore government. The paper studies the far reaching, social, ethical, legal and regulatory implications of a rapidly growing digital media sector and makes recommendations to the government on how these issues should be managed. Read it here (PDF).
(Thanks ANG)
Artist Kenn Munk has designed this paper CCTV camera for Nude magazine issue 13. Go Print it out and make your own. I think it may work scaring away potential burglars.
(Thanks Chris Ohn)
Check out these brilliantly taken photos depicting the violent deaths that are common in the insect world. This one shows a Robber Fly injecting its paralyzing saliva into the poor beetle. Once the saliva dissolves the insides of the beetle, the Robber Fly simply sucks its "lunch" using its proboscis. What a way to have a meal aye.
Doug Gilford has scanned images of all the regular issue Mad comic and magazine covers staring with #1 from 1952 to the current day. That's over 485 issues! He has also begun scanning his Mad covers for madcovermobile.com, a site developed specially for those who want to view the covers on their cellphone.
Poor Steve Jobs. Can you imagine yourself happily surfing the net one day, only to read your own obituary online? That's what happened to the Apple CEO. On Wednesday, Bloomberg News accidentally published an obituary of Steve Jobs.
The obit was marked “HOLD FOR RELEASE — DO NOT USE — HOLD FOR RELEASE — DO NOT USE.” You can read the obit in full here. Interesting to note that it also comes with a list of people for Bloomberg reporters to call in event of his death.
A commenter calling himself "Former CNN employee" left a comment on the Apple 2.0 blog post titled "How Steve Job's obit got published", saying that such "dead file" are common in the industry:
"CNN and other orgs have what’s called a “dead file.” Those notes complete with phone numbers and contacts are ALWAYS there. I remember reading CNN’s dead file for both the pope and Reagan. What astounded me was that I could (as an employee) see phone numbers of senators, celebrities and other dignitaries through an unrestricted posting in the iNews system. It doesn’t shock me that other orgs keep dead files either. Planning for the unexpected is what makes news orgs stand apart when the unexpected does actually occur."Bloomberg has retracted the obit and said that the item was never meant for publication. I think what they really meant was that they are keeping it for future use.
I know you guys and gals are dying to see how I looked like in the past so today's your lucky day. For the very first time, I'm showing to the world my yearbook pics from 1950 to 2000! Go watch the video I made above. I know, I know. I looked like a dork back then. You can also view all the pics here and once you're done, don't forget to go Yearbook Yourself because it's really fun.
Wife screwing your friends? Girlfriend driving you mad? Get the best revenge by giving them Revenge Crabs. Ha! I can't really believe someone would actually think of doing this as a business. They can even custom breed aggressive species for you! Oh well, just don't give them to me.
Eric Tabuchi has photographed trailer trucks on empty highways, each bearing one letter of the alphabet. What's amazing is that his set of 26 trucks is perfectly uniform in scale and composition and lighting!
As he turns 50, Michael Jacskon is almost always in a wheelchair, wearing a bizarre outfit and looking so frail. Poor guy. Here's an image of Michael Jackson showing how he may have looked like today without all those plastic surgery that he did on his face.
Gerrie Lim's long-awaited sequel to the Singapore bestseller Invisible Trade is now available from Monsoon Books for only S$13.23. In Invisible Trade II, journalist Gerrie Lim unravels and demystifies two major aspects of the sex industry in modern Singapore: the secretive double lives led by the beautiful, upscale escorts and the reasons why men habitually need to spend money to pay for sex. Go read Chapter 1 here (pdf).
For their wireless international roaming ads, AT&T got an hand artist to paint different localised themes on six pair of hands which represent six different countries to show that their roaming service works globally. Check them all out!
(Thanks Weiyun)
Trust the Japanese for making wacky products that make us laugh. These made in Japan Boob Balloons are two balloons that you can stick on your chest. Simply squeeze them tight until you hear a breaking sound and the balloons will automatically inflate to give you your very own pair of boobs (complete with nipples!) that you can proudly show off to your friends.
This is definitely the world's best calendar! Bubble Calendar is a poster-sized calendar with a bubble to pop every day. I need to have one of these! I love popping bubbles. The only problem is that I may be popping more than just one in one day.
Dean draws his favorite characters and stars as they would appear in The Simpsons. You can find a lot of gems on his blog Springfield Punx but first, say hello to yellow skin Batman and Robin.
(Thanks Mr Big)
Dark Horse provides a glimpse into the process that goes into the making of Star Wars Dark Times #11. Featuring pages 12 to 17 of the comic, learn about the steps (scripting, penciling, coloring and lettering) that the writer and artists have to take as they bring the pages to life.
I've just fallen in love with Dave Perillo's drawings! Dave draws inspiration for his work from 1950’s Sci-Fi Movies, Charles Schultz, Jim Flora, Ray Harryhausen, Roy Lichtenstein, Jim Henson, Hanna Barbera, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock and character advertising icons.
(via /Film)
I think Ginny Case has become the first woman in the world to use Twitter to update her family and friends about her labour experience. At around 35 minutes ago, her baby Lolani was born. Congrats Ginny! From ginnycase:
-olani born via c-section. Weight: 8lbs, 1.4oz! 35 minutes ago
-At 7 cm since 5. I have until 10 pm to make to 10cm. Twittering for family but appreciate the positive notes. about 6 hours ago
-@markie: Don't expect any more new news for a couple of hours. Let dad know things are moving just fine. We will call. about 9 hours ago
-@markie: yes, labor is fine. Not expected to push for a couple of hours. Been through my magazines and tv is boring. about 9 hours ago
-Funny that I can use my iPhone during really strong contractions. Dodger game started and we don't get fox sports west. about 10 hours ago
-doc says we are at 5 cm. Hopeful for regular delivery. Iolani is very active and they had to keep readjusting the monitor. about 10 hours ago
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-Singapore opens up to law firms: Changes to the Legal Profession Act will now open up the hitherto protected legal sector to allow foreign firms more leeway to operate here.
-More DIY check-in kiosks at Changi: More self-service kiosks may soon be available at Changi Airport for travellers to do their own check-ins.
-Upset karaoke operators told to pay up: Large karaoke operators will have to pay up to $30,000 to Innoform Entertainment for the songs’ video rights.
-16 gantries on KPE for safety: When it opens on Sept 20, the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) will have 16 new Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries along its 12 kilometres, of which 9km are underground.
-Some S'poreans say parenthood package not enough: One resident wanted paternity leave and another wanted more infant care services.
-Dr Lily Neo explodes in Parliament: Halfway through the marathon parliamentary session, Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar GRC) walked to the rostrum and stopped the Speaker from moving on to the next question.
-Singapore salon infuses tea with new level of luxury: At Singapore's only luxury tea boutique and salon you'll be spoiled for choice, with 600 fragrant blends ranging from classic breakfast pick-me-ups to rare yellow varieties.
-Singapore is world's top brand: Singapore is the best, based on how the Republic is perceived in leading international media.
-Trials on new system of buying electricity start soon: The EVS aims to bring down household energy bills by giving customers the freedom to choose different electricity packages from suppliers.
-Car numbers up despite driving costs: Singapore's car population continues to rise, although higher fuel prices, parking charges and road tolls were expected to have put the brakes on growth.
-No rise in the number of suicides among the young in Singapore: Among Singaporeans aged 10 to 24, the suicide incidence rate was 7.2 per 100,000 in 2003 and 6.7 last year.
Thanks to readers Mr Big, Shy and others who informed me that my Jade Seah Fark clip is the 67th most viewed video on YouTube this week under the People & Blogs category. The video which is only slightly more than one week old, has been viewed more than 48,000 times on YouTube, with 38 ratings and more than 100 comments! It has been embedded and linked on Mr Brown and other blogs, forums such as Sammyboy and even on Facebook!
I thought it would be interesting to share with you some stats and data of the Jade Seah Fark clip courtesy of my YouTube Insight which is YouTube's external facing analytics and reporting tool that enables anyone with a YouTube account to view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload to the site. Here are some of the graphs and data that I've captured for you.
Thanks to all for viewing, commenting and linking to the video.
Previously:
The Jade Seah Fark Clip - Extended Version
Jade Seah admits to saying the F word
Go make these papercraft mini replicas of famous arcade machines such as Pacman, Donkey Kong and Mortal Kombat. Download, print, then glue them together and soon you'll be the proud owner of your very own micro arcade!
Big Bang Pow says of his vintage paperback collection: "I love the Juvenile Delinquent books, trashy good girl art, hot rod and hard-boiled crime the best. I have way too many." You can view the covers over at his Flickr photoset here. Man, they sure don't write books like these anymore.
Got an iPhone or an iPod Touch? Then you should download this free cool app called myLighter before you head out to your next concert or party. Just touch the myLighter icon on the home screen of your iPhone/iPod and a big, realistic, flickering flame comes up for about 45 seconds. You can throw your old lighter away!
The talented craftsmen at Fine Art Models build museum quality limited edition scale models of trains, ships, aircrafts, automobiles, military vehicles and cycles. Their incredibly detailed models are made entirely of stainless steel, brass, nickel silver, real wood and glass.
I am so going to buy "Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N' Roses", a book by Stephen Davis that traces the illustrious history of my favourite band Guns N' Roses. Borders, here I come! Here's an excerpt. From New York Magazine:
"DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?"
The boys, taken aback, just looked at him.
"I SAID, DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?"
Bill Bailey said, "Uh, we're just trying to get to…"
"YOU'RE IN THE JUNGLE, BABY!"
Bill Bailey — the future W. Axl Rose — just stared at him in wonderment. And then the little old man wound himself up to his full fury and told these white boys what they could expect from New York City at the tail end of the seventies: years of bankruptcy, endemic crime, corruption, decadence — the gateway to the eighties and the scourge of AIDS. He told it to them straight from the gut:
"YOU'RE GONNA DIE!"
Sometimes, legends come from true stories, and this is one of them. Welcome to the jungle.
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-Hand foot and mouth disease rife in Singapore: There have been 553 people now affected by the virus in the current outbreak, a rise of over a hundred from last week, which only just falls short of the Health Ministry's official "epidemic level".
-Gao Ning blames manager and coach for Olympics fiasco: Singaporean men's table-tennis player Gao Ning let fly at the two men he felt were responsible for his sour Beijing Olympics experience. He is also frustrated with what he perceived as preferential treatment accorded to the women's team.
-S'poreans speak better English: Singaporeans are generally speaking better English but they find the standard of spoken English among service staff poor.
-Burmese Protesters Not Allowed in Singapore: Myo Tun, one of three Burmese activists who took part in political activities in Singapore, says “Now I have no future.” He is among three activists who were ordered to leave Singapore for demonstrating against the junta.
-New e-payment system for public transport: All EZ-Link cards, the stored-value cards used to pay for train and bus rides, will be phased out starting next year.
-Singapore's young and frisky: A check with three school counsellors and five teachers revealed that teenagers are not only having sex earlier but, more alarmingly, they are not practising safe sex.
-F1 has 'safety concerns' over Singapore GP: Formula 1 drivers are ‘concerned' about the sport's inaugural night race to be held in Singapore at the end of next month. The event may be ‘not exactly what you really want from a safety point-of-view'.
-Bonus to retain cops: To make sure more police officers stay in the force for at least eight years, junior police officers will be paid a retention bonus of up to $30,000.
-HDB Lease Buyback Scheme could be implemented soon: The Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS) to help low-income households monetise their flats for their retirement needs could be implemented as early as January next year.
-Singapore searches for new Sling in cocktail boom: There's a new drink in town and it's called the Tiffin Punch, The Champ or the Dark Angel -- and its out to get the Singapore Sling.
-Single intake for JCs: From next year, all junior colleges will have a single intake of students in Year 1, with students starting school on Feb 2.
I've made fun of Osim's iGallop and iVibe in the past. Well, who can blame me? Here's another one of Osim's sexually suggestive products, the uVibe, which looks like a cousin of the iVibe. Check this out: "Curved handle... multiple speed... high speed vibration gives that extra oomph... flexible rubber head..." Include the drawings of what looks like a very excited girl in her undergarments and no wonder people might think that the uVibe is more than just your average massager. Ahem. "The uVibe is well-suited for use on other areas of your body as well." See! Ben from Ladri Di Biciclette interestingly points out that Osim is offering the uVibe to SMU members at a discount. Wah! Those lucky SMU girls.
The Year of the Sex Olympics is a 1968 production by the BBC that depicts a future where the world is dominated and run by television, language has become almost redundant and all "tensions", namely love, war, hate and loyalty have been removed. Overpopulation is a problem, so there are gluttony programmes to put people off food and pornography programmes to put them off sex. Watch part one above and all the rest here.
This has got to be one of the strangest things that you can find on eBay. The Furby Gurdy is what you'd get when you combine a hurdy gurdy which is a stringed musical instrument and four scary Furby toys made by Tiger Electronics. It's really bizarre. Check out the video.
As part of its public outreach program, the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (STEL) at Nagoya University in Japan has published comic books written by popular cartoonist Hayanon, featuring humorous characters and scientific themes such as global warming, ozone hole, solar wind, etc. The comics are free to download (pdf) and are in English.
So the Olympic Games are finally over but who really wins? The country with the most gold medals or the country with the most gold, silver and bronze medals combined? I was just looking at several websites and found out that on the Official Beijing Olympics site, Channel NewsAsia and many others, China is listed at the top of the medal tally thanks to its 51 gold medals but on US websites such as NBC and CNN, they listed US at the top based on the overall medals won. I guess for Americans, who wins depends on them apparently.
I have to say that the Chinese did a great job hosting the Games despite their attempts at faking the Opening Ceremony. My highlights of the Games have to be Michael Phelps winning 8 gold medals at swimming, Usain Bolt winning 3 gold medals at his sprinting events and of course, the Singapore team made up of our Chinese imports, winning the Silver medal.
It was indeed an amazing Olympics and I can't wait for London 2012 and the participation of a united Great Britain football team in the Olympics! Britain's PM Gordon Brown wants it and I'm all for it. Besides it's always nice to see the England team, oops I meant the UK team, fail in a major football tournament, again and again.
Time Magazine has an interesting article on how the great Usain Bolt can run so fast. Bolt holds the Olympic and world records for the 100 metres at 9.69 seconds, the 200 metres at 19.30 seconds and the 4x100 metres relay at 37.10 seconds, all set at the Beijing Olympics. From Time:
It appears that Bolt takes advantage of a little of both. At 6 ft. 5 in., he's nearly half a foot taller than many other gold-medal sprinters; compared to his Olympic competition, Bolt's step was 1 ft. longer, allowing him to cover 100m in 41 steps. The other athletes needed, on average, 47. That helps, considering Bolt isn't the best starter — he's relatively slower off the block, but he separates himself at the end of the race, when "he's still able to turn his legs over fast enough with high power," says Ed Coyle at the University of Texas's Human Performance Laboratory. "He overcomes his average start and just doesn't slow down, as others do, in the last 30 to 40 meters. He's able to relax and coordinate his longer legs."
The Olympic Games may be over but you can still relive some of the great moments of the Games involving the team of Lego Stormtroopers in this Flickr photoset!
Previously: The Beijing Olympics in Lego!
Drawing Flies 365 is a blog by artist and fly fishing enthusiast Jeff Kennedy where you can view his daily artificial fly drawings. Artificial flies, constructed of furs, feathers, and threads bound on a hook were created by anglers to imitate fish prey.
(via Drawn)
Yesterday, I blogged about the panoramic diver's view of the Beijing Water Cube. Today, I have more Olympic panoramas to share with you. Finnish sports photographer Kari Kuukka has taken several 360 degrees high resolution panorama shots of the Beijing Olympics. My favourite is the one taken inside the Bird's Nest Stadium 30 minutes before the start of the men's 100m final that shows a bunch of photographers with their cameras waiting to shoot the race.
The Mars Webcam formerly known as the Visual Monitoring Camera takes fantastic views of Mars including crescent views of the planet not obtainable from Earth! The cam is mounted on Mars Express which is now orbiting the red planet. Unfortunately the images are not live and new ones will only be made available online when the Mars Express Flight Control Team have something worth showing.
Bike Furniture Design takes recycled steel and aluminum bicycle rims, handlebars, and frames and uses them to make contemporary, modern furniture such as this cool looking Vector Lounge Chair.
(Thanks bubba29)
The see-through and Wi-Fi-connected iBasket stores dirty clothes and automatically washes them when it fills up. The iBasket can be monitored via a personal computer and is one of nine finalists out of more than 600 entries from 49 countries in the Electrolux Design Lab 2008 competition.
(Thanks GeekGod)
Omega, the Olympic timekeeper has released digital images (in PDF) that showed Michael Phelps’s narrow victory in the 100-meter butterfly after The New York Times questioned the refusal of Omega to make them public. Omega is one of Phelps’s corporate sponsors.
These human anatomical charts by Tom Giesler are not only wonderful but they are definitely the wackiest anatomical charts that I've seen. Check out his My IP drawings too.
(via Boing Boing)
Take a look at this amazing New York Times 360 degrees interactive panorama which comprises a series of photographs taken from the 10 meter platform at Beijing's Water Cube. It gives you a diver's view of the Water Cube.
(Thanks Sir Thomas)
Wham! Bang! Jam! It looks like there's more to the Olympics than that is being reported in the news. Matthew Syed, a former English table tennis international in his column for The Times, says that sex is rampant in the world's greatest sports event. Boy, are they expecting "fireworks" tomorrow night! From Times Online:
It was not just the guys. The women, too, seemed in thrall to their hormones, throwing around daring glances and dynamite smiles like confetti. No meal or coffee break was complete without a breathless conversation with a lithe long jumper from Cuba or an Amazonian badminton player from Sweden, the mutual longing so evident it was almost comical. It was an effort of will to keep everything in check until competition had finished. But, once we were eliminated from our respective competitions, we lunged at each other like suicidal fencers. There may have been a fair amount of gay sex going on, too - but given the notorious homophobia in sport it was rather more covert.
This sex fest was not limited to Barcelona: the same thing happened in Sydney in 2000, my second Olympics as an athlete, and is happening right here in Beijing, where this time I'm a commentator. I spoke to an Aussie table tennis player this week to check out the village vibe and he launched into the breathless patter common to any Olympic debutant: “It is unbelievable in there; everyone is totally crazy once they are out of their competitions. God knows what it is going to be like this weekend. It is like a world within a world.”
Peter Gwin has written his latest piece for National Geographic Magazine called Green Sahara about how a dinosaur hunter uncovered the Sahara's strangest Stone Age graveyard. From National Geographic Magazine:
"I found some bones," Hettwer said, when the team had regrouped. "But they're not dinosaurs. They're human." Heat, thirst, and, for the moment, dinosaurs were forgotten as the team members followed Hettwer back to the three dunes and began to gingerly survey their slopes. In just a few minutes they had counted dozens of human skeletons. Parts of skullcaps pushed up through the sand like upturned china bowls; jawbones clenched nearly full sets of teeth; a tiny hand, perhaps a child's, appeared to have floated up through the sand with all its finger bones intact. "It was as if the desert winds were pulling them from their final resting places," said Hettwer. Insinuated among the human bones was a profusion of clay potsherds, beads, and stone tools— finely worked arrowheads and axheads and well-worn grindstones. There were also hundreds of animal bones. In addition to antelope and giraffe, Sereno quickly recognized the remains of water-adapted creatures like crocodiles and hippos, then turtles, fish, and clams. "Everywhere you turned, there were bones belonging to animals that don't live in the desert," said Sereno. "I realized we were in the Green Sahara."You can read my interview with Peter here about his previous National Geographic story on Malacca Strait Pirates.
Play Imaginative, the folks behind the successful Singapore Toy and Comics Convention held few months ago, are having a “MOVING OUT” sale at Blk 203, Wing B, Henderson Industrial Park, #03-07, Henderson Road today and tomorrow from 2pm to 6pm. They are offering very very good discounts (up to 70%!) on lots of collectible toys and t-shirts such as this 18" Skuttle at $120 per piece!
Watch this video of Kevin Phang from Chicago Tribune and Bill Plaschke from Los Angeles Times as they take a break from their Olympics reporting duties in Beijing to try out the exotic Chinese delicacy, animal penises and testicles! It's an eye opening clip and hilarious too.
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-Non-emergency calls to 995 down: The number of non-emergency calls to the 995 emergency hotline plunged by 47 per cent in the first half, from the same period last year
-Singapore GP 95 per cent sold out: The Singapore Grand Prix has already sold more than 95 per cent of the tickets for Formula One's first ever night race next month
-Chute fires on the rise: In the first six months of this year, there were almost 1,100 blazes in rubbish chutes, garbage bins and common areas such as lift lobbies and void decks.
-Singapore Poly's Love Class is more than just about birds and bees: Singapore Polytechnic student Toh Jun Biao admits to being clueless about the female pysche. He realised only after taking the 'love' elective in his school that when it comes to romance, stereotypes do not always work.
-More places in International schools: The Government is making available public buildings and vacant land for up to four more foreign schools.
-StarHub ups the on-demand ante: A month after SingTel gave television viewers here the good news that it was bringing in hit series such as Prison Break and Desperate Housewives within 24 hours of airing in the United States, StarHub has revealed it will do the same with hits such as the CSI franchise and Numb3rs.
-S'poreans happy with enhanced baby bonus: Many Singaporeans said they are happy with the extras being given to encourage higher birth rates, such as financial support for In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment.
-Michael Phelps could have been 8 million dollars richer if he was a Singaporean: Had Phelps been born 9,000 miles away in Singapore, he might have pocketed S$8 million ($5.6 million) from the most bonus-friendly national sports body.
-Many eagerly await outcome of relaxed new media rules: Many are anxious to see how rules on new media such as podcasting will be relaxed.
-Singapore PM says ban on outdoor protests should ease: Singapore should ease its ban on political videos and outdoor demonstrations as part of a gradual liberalisation of society.
-Singapore to ease bans on political films: Singapore, which currently bans political films and demonstrations, may ease curbs on both to keep up with the spread of video and other free expression on the Internet.
Some of you wondered if it was Jade Seah or someone else who uttered "fark" on Channel 5 during the Olympics broadcast. If you missed it, watch the video (the extended version) here. Well, Mediacorp has just admitted that it was indeed Jade Seah and she will not be replaced. From Asiaone:
In an e-mail reply to my paper, Mr Kenneth Liang, executive vice-president (TV Programming & Production, Channel 5), MediaCorp TV, said: 'MediaCorp Channel 5 has investigated and confirms that there was an unintentional utterance by the presenter off-camera.'
He explained that there was a delay in switching off Seah's microphone after she had delivered her lines, and it caught her reaction 'to a fluff she had made in pronouncing an athlete's name'.
Mr Liang said: 'We deeply regret the unintentional leakage of the off-air expletive. Measures have been put in place to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future.'
In order to protect their sorry asses, the people at Searching For Bigfoot Inc, the group that was responsible for the recent press conference of the Georgia Bigfoot originally discovered by Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer, have now publicly admitted that they have been duped by the two men and that the Bigfoot is indeed a costume. From Searching For BigFoot:
On August 17th, 2008 Searching for Bigfoot Team Director of Field Operations, TJ Biscardi and myself, were up early to discover that some hair was now exposed. I extracted some from the alleged corpse and examined it and had some concerns. Bob Schmalzbach arrived and concurred. We burned said sample and said hair sample melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair.The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization thinks that Tom Biscardi and his company Searching For Bigfoot Inc are also involved the hoax and they are just as guilty as both Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer. From BRFO:
At that time we contacted Mr. Biscardi who gave us permission to begin an expedited melting process. We set up a salamander heater to heat the freezer. Within one hour we were able to see the partially exposed head, as I was now able to touch it, I was able to feel that it seemed mostly firm, but unusually hollow in one small section. This was yet another ominous sign. Within the next hour of thaw, a break appeared up near the feet area. As the team and I began examining this area near the feet, I observed the foot which looked unnatural, reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot.
At that point we immediately contacted, Tom Biscardi and advised him of the situation and he began to take action on his end. Later that day, Tom Biscardi informed us that both Matthew Whitton and Ricky Dyer admitted it was a costume. They reportedly agreed to sign a promissory note and admission of what they had done, and set a meeting in their hotel room in California for 8AM on August 17th, 2008.
This hoax was debunked last week by the BFRO, a few days before the press conference. Kulls is now trying to help himself (and the rest of Biscardi's gang -- SearchingForBigoot, Inc.), from being named as a defendant in this case, by casting himself as "the independant investigator who uncovered the hoax." This is an ongoing hoax/scam, and Kulls is part of it.
Biscardi didn't start this hoax, but instead latched onto to it once it was presented to him by his partner Steve Kulls. Lots of people make ludicrous claims like Whitton and Dyer did (and like Biscardi has done in the past more than once). The element that made this hoax attractive for Biscardi was that Whitton is a sheriff deputy. Biscardi knew this would help the story appear more believeable to the media, for a little while at least.
Dude builds a remote controlled hovercraft using easily available items. He says, "The body of the hovercraft is made out of styrofoam... The skirt on the bottom is made out of pieces of a plastic GAP bag, attached with Scotch tape and hot glue. The rc unit was scavenged from an old boat I had, along with the drive motor mounted on the wooden supports, while the lifting motor was from my physics teacher."
Watch this 2008 computer 3-D remake of Emile Cohl's 1908 animated film Fantasmagorie. The film made on the 100th anniversary of the original Fantasmagorie, connects two centuries and provides a synthesis of traditional and computer animation.
PLAN59, a website dedicated to the commercial art of mid-century America, has a nice 1950's space art gallery. There are a couple of gems there such as this cover of Weird Tales of the Future comic.
(Thanks Sir Thomas)
You've read about Ten Thousand Cents and The Sheep Market in the past. Now here's another project using anonymous contributors working on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Amazing but True Cat Stories is a collection of stories about cats, illustrated in vivid 8-bit color by true Mspaint artists.
Everyone is eagerly waiting for the iPhone price plans by Singtel and here they are! Singtel has announced 3 new iPhone plans, the iFlexi Value, iFlexi Plus and iFlexi Premium.
Those of you who are currently on an existing SingTel I-plan can still keep your plan and get the iPhone!
Please note that if you choose to stick to your I-plan, you're encouraged by Singtel to subscribe to Singtel's Broadband On Demand for the iPhone's data usage.
Those of you who had reserved your iPhone on Singtel's website will receive a password in your email for you to login and book an appointment to purchase the iPhone. The first batch of lucky customers will get to buy the iPhone on August 22 at Comcentre. The iPhone will only be available in Singtel Hello Stores from August 25th onwards.
Previously: Exclusive: Singtel iPhone Updates
It's only 3 more days till the much awaited 3G iPhone launch here in Singapore and I'm excited to inform you guys and gals that I had received more info from the same sources that provided me with the scoop which I posted on Aug 7. Here are the latest updates.
1) Singtel will sell the iPhone at 12.01 am (midnight) on Aug 22 at Comcentre at Somerset.
2) I've been informed that Singtel has roped in hundreds of temporary staff and they have undergone training since yesterday. Training will end tomorrow.
3) Those of you who have made reservations online will receive an email later today or tomorrow informing you to head down to Comcentre from midnight of Aug 22.
4) Singtel has received more than 50,000 online reservations and they have more than 50,000 iPhone sets in their hands, ready for sale this week. This means everyone (those who reserved) will get their iPhones this weekend.
5) The first batch of iPhone sales will continue from midnight of Aug 22 till Aug 24 at around 8pm.
6) Singtel is expecting at least 5,000 to show up at midnight of August 22.
7) There will be food and drinks served to those waiting in the queue.
8) As for the pricing, I have nothing much more to add than my previous exclusive report but I can confirm that the Singtel will be coming up with a new plan/package for the iPhone which will bundle both calls and data together.
9) The most expensive of this new iPhone plan will be around $120 per month. Subscribe 24 months and you'll get either the 8GB or 16GB iPhone for free.
10) The iPhone will be locked to the Singtel network but you are able to unlock the handset by calling Singtel Customer Service. No unlocking fee is applicable. Singtel can only unlock iPhones purchased from a Singtel outlet within Singapore.
I'll update more when I hear anything else.
Update: Official Singtel iPhone 3G Price Plans!!!
Congrats to Jade Seah for being the worst sports host in the history of television and for becoming the first person to say the "F word" on national TV. Watch the video above. I got a clip from YouTube and then did some video editing on it so that those of you with hearing problems can hear her say those magic words: "err, fark". Or was it "blur fark"? LOL. Seriously, Channel 5 should remove her right away from hosting the Olympics. I cringe everytime she appears beside her co-host Mark Richmond. 90% of the time, it's like she's talking to her mother or something. Please Jade, do something else.
Update: Jade Seah admits to saying the F word
The folks from the Hong Kong Lego User Group have created the Bird's Nest National Stadium, the Olympic Village and the Water Cube National Aquatics Centre entirely out of Lego! These materpieces are currently on display at Grand Century Place, Hong Kong until 31 Aug 2008. Truly amazing!
(Thanks Johnny Q)
Every August, the Zenshoan temple in Tokyo exhibits its collection of 19th-century ghost scroll paintings. Most of the paintings are not that spooky so don't worry about not sleeping well tonight after looking at them aye.
Nick Veasey takes x-ray images of dolls, animals, insects, and even underwear with interesting results! I especially love his insect x-ray photography. The images show off the insects' alien looking internal parts.
Gal digs through her collection of cookie cutters and finds that her tiny tulip cookie cutter makes great Pacman and Ghost cookies! Read her how-to here.
This is truly awesome! Michael Horn made this short film (watch the video above) of the Death Star and other Star Wars vehicles and ships appearing in the sky and on the streets of San Francisco. He shot everything using a DV camera, did motion-tracking and comping in After Effects, and basic sound design in Final Cut. Can someone do "Death Star over Singapore" please?
Science Not Fiction, a blog by Discover Magazine lists the 10 best science fiction planets - faraway worlds created but writers that could happily go on existing on their own terms. From SNF:
5. LV-426 (1979): The dread planet that featured briefly in Alien, and was the location for 1986’s Aliens. In both movies, LV-426 is perfectly portrayed as part of a cosmos utterly indifferent to human concerns, such as staying alive.
6. Dagobah (1980): The Star Wars franchise is a planet-producing machine: Tatooine, Yavin IV, Alderan, Hoth, Endor, Coruscant, Naboo, etc, etc. But Dagobah sticks out for its organic messiness and claustrophobic atmosphere that stands in contrast to the typical open spaces that provide the large stages for the movies’ space opera.
I just found this helpful guide that lists the recommended times for refrigerator and freezer food storage. For example, now I know eggs can only be kept in the fridge for 3 weeks max. Shit! Looks like all my eggs have to go into the bin now. From Clemson:
For best results in maintaining product quality practice the rule: FIRST IN, FIRST OUT. This means you use the oldest products first and the newest products later. A good practice in the home is to place the newly purchased products in back of the same products already on the shelf. It may help to write purchase dates on products without "open dates" on the package. Follow recommended storage times for the refrigerator and freezer.
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-White cards make a comeback: Customs areas in Johor Baru were filled with long queues and confused Singaporeans yesterday after Malaysia began requiring all visitors to fill in embarkation cards.
-Overcrowded Singapore shelter for homeless foreign maids to close: A shelter for nearly 100 homeless foreign maids, many victims of abuse and rape, is to be closed in two days because of overcrowding.
-NKF offers free blood tests and subsidy: NKF is offering free blood tests for kidney-failure patients and a portable subsidy programme for the needy.
-15,000 jobs needed in healthcare: 15,000 healtcare workers will be needed for the next five years and Singaporeans alone will not be enough to fill these jobs.
-More travellers bringing dangerous weapons to Singapore: An increasing number of travellers entering Singapore are being caught carrying dangerous weapons.
-Govt not stupid, says PM Lee: Director Jack Neo is quick to capitalise on topical issues, like the current inflationary climate and the increase in Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates, in his latest movie, Money No Enough 2. However, the Government, while not as fast, is certainly 'I Not Stupid', quipped Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
-Singapore PM urges youth to marry, have babies: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called Sunday on the youth of Singapore to marry at an early age and have more babies to boost the city-state's population.
-Govt helping Singaporeans cope with rising costs: Singaporeans are receiving more help this year to deal with rising costs, said the Prime Minister last night, as he reassured the people that the Government is on top of the problem.
-Hundreds gather to watch Singapore win Olympic medal: Hundreds of supporters, including foreigners, gathered on Sunday at the Singapore Table Tennis Association, where a "live" screening of the Olympics table tennis finals match took place.
-Foreigners boost Singapore economy: Foreign talent and migrants in Singapore give the economy an extra boost, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Sunday amid worries among locals that they are losing out to the newcomers.
-Singapore gets its first Olympic Silver Medal in 48 years: Singapore has clinched the silver medal in the Olympic women's table tennis team event.
Thanks to those of you who participated in my little contest to get Li Jiawei to LOL Olympics. The chosen caption is by reader Mr Big - "I IZ BETTR AT TABEL TENIZ, RLY!". See the pic above. The folks at LOL Olympics have posted it on their website. Take a look. Once again, thanks guys and gals.
Looks like those suckers are taking us for a ride. At the much awaited Bigfoot press conference on Friday, the guys who claimed to have discovered a dead Bigfoot, failed to show the body to the world press. What a surprise! From BFRO:
As expected, they didn't show the "body," and as expected they said, again, the world will have to "wait and see" ... All the while Biscardi can do some deals to put some money in his pocket, from publishers, producers, etc., (and share it with the Georgia boys) before it is obvious to everyone that it was just another Biscardi hoax.Watch the video of the actual press conference here. It's 43 minutes worth of bullshit! I can't believe the reporters didn't grill those guys to death. I would. Anyway forget about the Georgia Bigfoot, here's a better video evidence which I found while reading Web Scout, a blog by LA Times.
The only scientist involved with them (Curt Nelson) simply received a "DNA sample" in the mail. Three results so far from that sample: 1) unknown, 2) human, and 3) possum. Nelso will do more tests, but he has said his tests don't mean anything.
Biscardi claims that other scientists will be doing more studies on the body, which will make a nice excuse to string the media along for a few more weeks.
Space Studies Institute has a gallery of the illustrations made by noted space artist Don Davis for The High Frontier, a book first published in the 70s that envisions large manned colonies in the Earth-Moon system.
World reknown Chinese-born American architect I. M. Pei has designed some of the most beautiful structures in the world like the the Louvre Pyramid in Paris and even The Gateway in Singapore! Here is a collection of his concept sketches for the Musée d’Art Moderne in Luxembourg. These sketches offer a rare opportunity to see his mind at work.
Dutch illustrator Jesse van Dijk imagines what a huge vertical seaside city would look like in a world where dry land is very precious. This imaginary city would probably reside in an inactive volcanic crater and be built on a huge pillar in the middle of it. Amazing drawings!
To solve the problem of lack of space in crowded Tokyo, the Japanese are planning to build a massive pyramid over Tokyo Bay. The Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid will be built largely by robots and when completed will house 750,000 people in skyscrapers dangling from it like fruit on a tree. It will also be the largest man-made structure on Earth!
Five fantastic Flickr photosets of beer ads from old newspapers. I like this one - Food for the old folks! So that's how Budweiser con old people to drink back in those days.
Fox is selling limited edition iPod Classic and Nano custom laser-etched with officially licensed 'X-Files' artwork! Each collector's item is numbered and you can also personalise each iPod with your name. I so want this!
Also read: Review: The X-Files: I Want To Believe
I didn't know this but Sega has a blog and on one of the posts, you can read about the Sega room that is packed with games from all the great consoles of Sega past as well as games from competitor consoles. Doesn't this make you want to work for Sega?
(Thanks GeekGod)
Move aside Li Jiawei! Feng Tianwei is the new darling of Singapore! Tianwei won her vital second singles match in today's Semi Finals of the Olympics Table Tennis event to help Singapore beat South Korea 3-2. She was the No 73 in the world rankings back in August last year. She entered the match today at No 9 - what an amazing rise in rankings - and now she can be proud of herself for getting Singapore's long awaited Olympic medal. The whole of Singapore will cheer her name!
I was live blogging the match on my Twitter. It was nail biting stuff. You can read my Tweets here:
-Singapore takes 1st set against the Koreans in the Olympics Table Tennis Semi-Final. 2nd set now on with Li Jiawei! (First set was won by Tianwei)
-Li Jiawei blew it once again. She has just lost the 2nd singles match. It's Singapore 1 South Korea 1. Doubles next.
-Doubles on now. Singapore's Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu has taken first game! Jiawei has to forget about her singles match and perform!
-Singapore leads South Korea 2-1 in the Olympics Table Tennis Semi-Final! (Both Jiawei and Yuegue beat their South Korean counterparts in the Doubles)
-What a nail biting game! Unfortunately South Korea has just tied the game 2-2. Tianwei has to win it for Singapore next. Go Tianwei! (Yuegu lost in her 2nd Singles match)
-Feng Tianwei was No 73 in the world rankings in August 2007. Now she is No 9! She cld be Singapore's darling if she wins this match!
-Go Singapore!!! It's 11-7 to Tianwei! Come on Tiawei! Win the next two games and you'll win an Olympic medal for Singapore!
-I'm not a big fan of table tennis but this is intense!
-Tianwei has done it! Now its 2-0! One more game and it's over!!! Come on Singapore! Damn Im feeling so patriotic now.
-Shit! Tianwei! Focus girl. Focus.
-It's 2-1 now. Sigh. But Tianwei still leads. I think she has to stop thinking about the $750k prize money.
-5-0! Come on Tianwei! Come on Singapore!!!!! Do it! Do it!
-7-5 now. It's so close for Tianwei. I hope she does it. Singapore will never be this close to a silver medal again!
-Fark!! The South Korean has leveled it to 7-7.
-Every hair is standing on the back of my neck and arms as I watch this.
-She's done it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Singapore ladies table tennis team gets at least a silver thanks to Feng Tianwei! We are off to the Final! Amazing! Truly amazing!
Congrats again to Tianwei and the rest of the Singapore team. Now let's go for the Gold medal ok?
Previously: Help get Li Jiawei to LOL Olympics
In the spirit of LOL Olympics, I have something for you guys and gals to do today. I thought the LOL Olympics site is missing something. That's right - a photo of our dear Li Jiawei's flag dragging antics during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. Take a look at the photo here and then think of a suitable caption for it using only "lolspeak". I did the one above. Check out LOL Olympics for more examples. And if you need help, here are two online translators: Speak Lolcat and Txt2lol. Just leave your "captions" in the comments and I shall use the best for the photo and send it to LOL Olympics. Have fun!
Previously: The latest Olympics craze is LOL Olympics!
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival takes a closer look at life in Singapore: The year is 2058 and Singapore is reeling from a mysterious rain of fire that has destroyed nearly all the nation's buildings and killed thousands of people.
-More Singapore companies offering eco-friendly products: More businesses in Singapore are making “green” material and technology available to consumers and companies.
-PM likely to focus on economic sustainability in Rally speech: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will on Sunday set out the government's agenda for the rest of the year when he delivers his National Day Rally speech.
-Singapore charity does fund raising on Second Life: A Singapore charity has taken fund-raising to the virtual world. Instead of selling flags or lucky draw coupons potential donors now visit the giant virtual universe Second Life.
-More bullies unleash terror online: A Straits Times survey of 100 teens aged 13 to 17 showed that all had some encounter with online bullying one way or another.
-Excitement grows in Singapore ahead of Grand Prix season: As Singapore prepares to host its first ever Formula One Grand Prix and the world’s first night race on 28 September, the country is revving up the excitement with a range of adrenalin-inducing events, exhibitions and performances.
-More S'pore couples turn to IVF: According to Health Ministry figures, 717 babies were born through assisted reproductive treatment - IVF being the most common - in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available.
-1 in 4 TCM don't sell endangered species: About one in four Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) companies in Singapore have pledged not to sell products derived from endangered species, according to the Animal Research and Education Society (Acres).
-Airline food on board Singapore-KL buses: Express buses here will offer airline food on the road, as coach operators prepare for battle with budget airlines.
-Singapore's education system must move beyond emphasis on results: Singapore's Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said the country's education system must move beyond academic achievements and offer students more individual attention.
-American food players bite into Singapore's favourite foods: Last year, the US imported US$177.8 million worth of food from Singapore, an increase of 8% from 2006.
Lego fan and former Lego Hawaii Ambassador "Big Daddy" Nelson made these sushi using Lego. He says, "For years I've been wanting to make these, but never got around to it. Recently, I had an opportunity to do so for an event, and decided to make them larger than life."
Dulce Pinzon took 20 photos of Mexican immigrants at work and dressed in the costumes of popular superheroes. His project pays homage to the brave and determined ordinary men and women who have to withstand extreme work conditions to help their families and communities.
(via Nerdcore)
Everyone's favourite mystical giant ape is making the news! Apparently, two American dudes found a body of a dead Bigfoot in the woods in northern Georgia. They have been keeping it in a freezer and will present the body in a press conference this Friday. Above is an enhanced picture of the creature. What we know so far is that the Bigfoot is seven feet seven inches tall and weighs five hundred pounds. It is part human and part ape-like and it's a male.
The folks from the Bigfoot Researchers Association are quick to denounce it as a hoax and that the Bigfoot was made from this Halloween costume.
Comparing the two photos above, you can tell that the faces of the dead Bigfoot and the costume look awfully similar. So is this a hoax? I bet it is. Well, hopefully we will get some good answers tomorrow. I will update more then.
If you like Lolcats then I'm sure you will love LOL Olympics. It's similar to its predecessor but instead of cats, we have photographs of Olympians with the same humorous and idiosyncratic captions in broken English.
(Thanks Mr Big)
The Chinese tried everything to make sure that their Olympics Opening Ceremony was perfect but apparently they forgot one crucial thing - Windows is very unreliable. Dude was watching the Opening Ceremony in the Birds Nest stadium when he saw the dreaded Windows Blue Screen of Death appearing above him. He then snapped a couple of photos of it. Looks like someone's head will roll after this.
Thomas Hoehn on his Kodak Olympics pin collection, "I picked up some pins at my first Games (Sydney in 2000) and apparently became hooked. Since then I have collected quite a number of Kodak pins that I wanted to share."
For ESPN's latest direct campaign, Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore re-designed a basketball, football and baseball to look like human eyeballs with a message on the back which reads "ESPN. You can't get closer". Packed in boxes, the eyeballs were then sent to media buyers in Asia.
(Thanks Cherry)
They faked the giant footprints fireworks and even used a fake singer. Watch the video above. It seems that the Chinese will do almost anything to make their Olympics opening ceremony the grandest of them all.
The giant footprints fireworks were one of the highlights of the opening ceremony. China insists that the fireworks were there. Watch this video of the footprints shot from the ground. But they decided to insert computer generated imagery so that the giant footprints looked awesome to the millions watching on TV.
Then they also revealed that Lin Miaoke, the Chinese darling that sang at the opening ceremony was lip syncing. Watch this video of her "performance". The voice wasn't ever hers! It belongs to another girl named Yang Peiyi. How bad is Lin Miaoke's voice? Maybe this bad. Ah no wonder. Yang Peiyi was the original choice but the Chinese decided that she wasn't cute enough to be shown to the world and thus turned to Lin Miaoke. Poor girl.
After watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics live on TV, I was quick to praise the Chinese for a spectacular show. Now I'm disappointed and angry that the Chinese have fooled me and millions of others watching on TV. I wonder what else did the Chinese fake?
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-More men abandoning their families: More married Singaporean men are abandoning their wives and children and 'vanishing' overseas.
-New initiatives to curb inhalant abusers: With the number of inhalant abusers rising, CNB will launch several initiatives to curb the habit.
-Singapore Airlines voted world's best again: Singapore Airlines was voted the best in the world for the second consecutive year by an annual survey of passengers which was dominated by Asian and Gulf Arab carriers.
-Frozen ducks from Taiwan get rave reviews in Singapore: Frozen ducks from Taiwan are getting rave reviews from Singaporeans claiming they are cheaper, plumper and tastier.
-More residents going to CDCs for temporary financial help: More elderly are seeking help from the Community Development Councils or CDCs to cope with rising costs.
-More Singapore teens using social networking websites: A Straits Times survey of 100 teens here revealed that almost all, or 94 per cent of respondents said they had a profile on at least one social networking site
-New heart disease drug available in S'pore: A new drug that promises to lower the heartbeat rate of heart disease patients without much side effects is now available in Singapore.
-Great Singapore Sale flies in face of downturn: Singapore saw a 19% lift in consumer spend for the two month period of their annual region wide sale.
-The official residence of the Singapore Prime Minister: Sri Temasek, a just-restored colonial bungalow in the Istana domain, has piqued curiosity since Mr Lee Hsien Loong delivered his National Day message there last Friday.
-Foreigners to pay more for new long-term visit pass: Foreigners studying, visiting and working in Singapore on a long-term basis will soon have to pay more for a new long-term visit pass card.
Remember the classic video game Donkey Kong? Now someone has made a LEGO Mindstorms version of the game, complete with music, rolling barrels and a RCX-controlled jumping Mario! I think the next thing he needs to do is to make Mario travel all the way to the top and rescue the kidnapped girl.
Here's how you can make a Nintendo Lunchbox out of a broken down Nintendo Entertainment System and be the envy of your fellow school mates or colleagues during lunch time.
(Thanks GeekGod)
Dude did an experiment on one of my favourite Ben & Jerry's ice cream, the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to find out how much real cookie dough is inside the ice cream. He then uses the cookie dough from the ice cream to make real cookies.
The very impressive looking National Aquatics Center aka the Water Cube, the swim center for the Olympics was designed by an Australian firm using the mathematics of foam. From Science News:
The Weaire-Phelan foam provided not just a pretty surface for the walls, but the building’s very structure. Imagine an enormous block of the foam, with steel beams outlining the edge of each bubble. Now carve out the center to form a building with 12-foot-thick walls and 24-foot thick ceilings. This is the weight-bearing structure of the Water Cube.
The result is so strong, the engineers say, that the entire building could be turned on its side without collapsing. Furthermore, the remarkable effect is that they’ve designed a building without triangles. Ordinarily, buildings rely on triangles to provide stiffness, since a triangle is the only two-dimensional shape that can’t be deformed without changing the length of its sides. The engineers say that this lack of triangles will make the building more flexible and hence more able to withstand earthquakes.
I was flipping the Sunday Times over the weekend and I was laughing my ass off when I saw this. Hot Bods is a regular section in the Sunday Times where they profile two people with hot bodies. 19 year old undergraduate Alvin Lam (yup, that's him proudly showing off his "hot" bod) was chosen as one of the two Hot Bods of the week. Look at him. Is he hot? I don't think so but I'm sure he really thinks he is hot enough to send his photo to Sunday Times for consideration. I wonder. Does the Sunday Times really know the definition of a hot bod or are they running out of submissions?
Late last month, I attended the media launch of the 3 new Sony VAIO notebook lines at Fullerton Hotel together with some bloggers and journalists. My post about about the new Sony notebooks, the VAIO Z, VAIO FW and VAIO SR series, is now on Computer Shopper.
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-Why change in attitude towards having kids?: Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong yesterday lamented the changed attitude that some Singaporeans now have towards having children, as he joined the growing chorus of leaders calling for more babies.
-Singapore police interested in facial recognition software: Last week, the Singapore Police Force called for a Request for Information (RFI) from companies on facial recognition software for the identification of “persons of interest from video streams”.
-35 HIV cases detected: Changi General Hospital (CGH) picked up 35 HIV-positive patients in the first half of this year through its voluntary patient screening programme.
-French climber to scale building in Singapore: French professional climber Alain Robert will scale a building in Singapore as part of The Straits Times' 163rd anniversary celebrations.
-Smuggled goods in Singapore dips 4% in first half: Smuggling of contraband items in Singapore dipped 4 percent in the first half of this year compare with the same period of last year.
-Singapore's fourth university to be located in Changi: Singapore's fourth public-funded university will open its doors in 2011, offering programmes in Engineering and Applied Science, Business and Information Technology, and Architecture and Design.
-Most expensive getai in Singapore: The most expensive getai will be staged this Thursday for this year's Hungry Ghost Festival. It will cost a cool $20,000 for just three hours of raucous entertainment.
-Why more and more women opt for abortions in Singapore: Work commitments, needing to take holidays and wishing to stay slim – these are among the reasons why Singaporean women opt to have abortions.
-GSS spending up: Despite retailers' worries that shoppers here would cut spending as rising costs bite, Singaporeans actually spent more at this year's Great Singapore Sale (GSS) compared to last year.
-S'pore gave them a chance to study abroad: Of the 101 students who received A*Star's National Science Scholarships and A*Star Graduate Scholarships this year, 22 hail from China, Malaysia and Vietnam.
-Why they hate Singapore: Singapore is small enough to be a suburb in Beijing, but it has something in common with the mammoth People's Republic. The little red dot and Red China are both countries the West loves to hate.
-Singapore growth slows: Singapore said Monday economic growth slowed to an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the second quarter and forecast a decline in key exports.
Singtel has finally confirmed that it will launch Apple's third-generation iPhone in Singapore on August 22! Last Thursday, in an exclusive post, I revealed that my 3 confidential sources confirmed the August 22 date and more. I also wrote that Singtel will make its announcement sometime this week. Looks like I was spot-on, so far. You can also read the post on Reuters.
Update: Singtel will open its online reservation until Aug 17. Those who registered online will get priority for the iPhones. No price for the iPhone has been announced yet but you can get some idea here.
Update: Another spot-on! Singtel has sent out emails to those who registered online informing them that the iPhone will be on sale on August 22.
Update: Official Singtel iPhone 3G Price Plans!!!
Students at Temasek Polytechnic have made an umbrella that folds upwards, trapping water within. They called their invention the Dry Umbrella. See another pic of it here. It keeps drivers and their car interiors dry. When I first watched this on Channel NewsAsia (clip here), I thought to myself, hey didn't someone already invented this before? True enough. In season one of American Inventor, a reality television series based on a search for America's best inventor, Sheryl McDonald debuted her invention now known as In-Brella. That was back in 2006. The Dry Umbrella by Temasek Poly looks awfully similar to the In-Brella. The only notable difference is the In-Brella uses a central bar that houses the umbrella when unfolded but the concept for both products is the same. See video below.
So how can Temasek Poly call their Dry Umbrella an invention when something similar has been done years ago?
Nope, that's not the real Britney Spears caught in a photograph while putting on her undies. This photo is one of many taken by Alison Jackson who is making a name for herself for her photos of celebrity lookalikes. Alison uses her Samsung mobile phone, a bad quality video camera and an old Olympus camera with lousy lenses to mimic phone and paparazzi photography.
I just watched Bric à Brac, a delightful French stop motion animated short film. The scenes and characters are created out of cardboard! Go watch it.
(Thanks Stephane)
Build your own space exploration fleet with these NASA papercraft models. You can construct famous NASA spacecrafts such as the Pioneer 10, Mars Express, Cassini and more. The PDF files are free to download.
Artist Travis Louie does wonderful portrait paintings of monsters, human oddities and mythical beings that inhabit his own imaginary world grounded in Victorian and Edwardian times.
One of my favourite lifestyle magazines, Theme has a story about Cai Guo-Qiang, the Beijing Olympics artistic director of visual and special effects who is responsible for the pyrotechnic display for the Game's opening and closing ceremonies. From Theme:
In 2005, Cai submitted a bid to be chosen as one of the team members of the Olympic Games creative team. The team was finalized a year later and Cai was named artistic director, working alongside filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who serves as an artistic consultant. The rest of the team is made up of artists from a multitude of disciplines such as music and dance. According to Cai, the bar is high. “Our team has been trying to reinvent the Olympic ceremonies by having artists contribute and make the art in the ceremonies more international and modern,” he says. To that end, Cai is reportedly planning four entirely different fireworks shows, though it’s not clear if any of them will be shown.
Pastor Rony Tan, the founder of the megachurch Lighthouse, is not only good with his "healing" skills but he seems to be a pro at singing and song writing too. He sang and wrote The Singapore Song (watch the video above) as a "deep gratitude to our protective and caring government all these 43 years". He also dedicates it to Mr and Mrs Lee Kuan Yew.
So what do you think? Can Pastor Rony's The Singapore Song give the official NDP 2008 theme song a run for its money? Oh, and for those of you who want to catch the National Day Parade online, there's a live webcast starting from 5.45pm here. Enjoy the National Day and Happy Birthday Singapore!
My iPhone scoop that I posted on Thursday is now on Reuters and it has also been reported by the Apple news site MacNN.
The Singapore delegation was the 188th team to come out yesterday during the parade of the athletes at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games held at Beijing. It's funny that the commentators mentioned our badminton player Ronald Susilo and then Li Jiawei (without mentioning her name), the flag bearer and table tennis player. I guess they had no idea about the couple's recent ugly split. And talking about Li Jiawei, did anyone notice that she was dragging the Singapore flag on the floor? Watch the video above. I guess that's what you get when you purchase an athlete from China - they just have no respect for your flag. According to the Singapore Arms and Flag and National Anthem Act, no person must treat the national flag with disrespect, nor must any person in possession of the flag allow or cause the flag to touch the floor or ground. The penalty is a fine not exceeding S$1,000. Ouch.
Ok enough about the Singapore team. Let's now talk about the opening ceremony in general. Last night's Olympic Opening Ceremony held at Beijing's Bird Nest stadium was spectacular. There's a lot being said about the Chinese on the run up to the Olympic Games but one thing is for sure, they do know how to create a spectacular Opening Ceremony! The Chinese put up so many amazing sights and sound for the ceremony last night but I think the most spectacular of the lot has to be the lighting of the flame cauldron. Chinese sporting icon and former gymnast Li Ning with the Olympic torch was pulled all the way up to the top of the Bird Nest Stadium, then jogged around the top ring wall "sideways" before lighting up the Olympic cauldron. I swear when he was pulled up, I was a bit worried for the man. I was just hoping the wires were strong enough. It looked scary up there.
The ceremony was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou but I do wonder though how much of last night's displays were the brainchild of Steven Spielberg who quit as the artistic adviser for the opening ceremony in February in protest at China’s policy on Darfur. It's great to see a fellow Asian country putting up such a wonderful spectacle but as the Chinese spent millions to make sure their Olympics is a success, I can't help but think about the millions of people in Darfur who are suffering because of the Chinese continued sponsoring of the genocide there. No country has offered more diplomatic support, nor done more to provide money to buy the weaponry that fuels the engine of genocidal destruction. And no country has done more to insulate Khartoum from economic pressure or human rights accountability. China may have staged the greatest Olympic Opening Ceremony ever but they have to look at themselves for assisting in the death of hundreds of thousands of people thousand miles away. They have blood in their hands.
Update: You can also read this post on Reuters here.
Update: Li Jiawei and the Singapore team are through to the Finals of the Olympics Table Tennis event.
Also read: Help get Li Jiawei into LOL Olympics
Celebrate Singapore's 43rd birthday with an array of NDP 2008 discount eCoupons covering a wide variety of goods and services by various merchants. Pick the coupons you want, print out as many as you like and start using them at the applicable outlets.
(Thanks Sophie)
You've probably seen them in clubs. You know when girls drink too much and all of the sudden they start kissing each other. Yummy. Well, here are more than 50 pics of drunk girls kissing! Don't you just love 'em?
(Thanks Shy)
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-Hundreds of foreigners with fake degrees nabbed in Singapore: More than 400 foreigners were caught last year for lying to Singapore's Manpower Ministry in their work pass applications, a fourfold increase from 97 cases in 2005.
-IRs on track to open in 2009, 2010: Two years after the contracts for the integrated resorts (IRs) were awarded, both Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) say they are on track to open in December next year and the following year.
-Singapore asked to clone itself: Singapore should 'replicate' itself in other parts of the world to maintain its global competitiveness, says a former adviser to the Singapore government.
-U.S. submarine leaking radiation stopped at Singapore: A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine which has steadily been leaking a small amount of radiation for over two years stopped at a Singapore port but the radiation leak was within safety limits.
-LTA launches events in KPE ahead of opening: Be the first to drive through South East Asia's longest underground road tunnel, the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) tunnel before it fully opens on September 20.
-Police officers must strive for balance: Officers from Singapore's Home Team are reminded that mistakes must be addressed and they should strive for balance in all that they do.
-Cabby carries 43 Singapore flags: Passengers who hop aboard this cab are enthralled by its patriotic decorations. The cab carries the Singapore flag, or rather flags' 43 to be exact' representing the nation's 43rd birthday this year.
-1,000 gamers vying to represent Singapore in World Cyber Games: Close to 1,000 participants are competing to represent Singapore in the world finals, to be held in Germany from Nov 5-9.
-Singaporean mountaineers abandon bid to scale K2: Singaporean mountaineers have abandoned their bid to scale K2, the world's second highest peak after a huge chunk of ice fell off the face of the mountain just below the summit, killing 11 climbers.
-Myanmar activists face visa problems in Singapore: At least three Myanmar activists were forced to leave Singapore after authorities decided not to renew their visas.
Here are some of the pics that I took at Baby Sophie's 1 month old party on Saturday. Ain't she adorable? View all the pics here. Congrats Cindy and SJ! Now I can't wait for Baby Sophie to grow up so that I can take her out to party.
After I read this post by Liz about her homemade Nutella ice cream, I feel like making one myself. It looks so yummy. And how can I resist two of my favourite sins, Nutella and ice cream? Argh! Now that I have the recipe, all I need is an ice cream maker.
Verdiem has made a free energy-monitoring application called Edison for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista PC users. You can use it to more actively control your PC’s energy consumption — and subsequently your household’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Download it here.
If you like The New York Times' Evolution of the Olympic Torch that I blogged a few days ago then I'm sure you will like this one too. Here's another interactive graphic by NYT. A Map of Olympic Medals from 1896 to 2004!
Hee-Man: Masters of None is a 1985 Filipino movie that spoofs the He-Man cartoons. Check out the poster here and watch a short clip of the movie above. It's very poor quality and do note there's no sound during the first 30 secs. Funny how they changed "By the power of Grayskull. I have the power!" to "By the power of Graystone. I am the power!" And I thought the 1987 Hollywood production of Masters Of The Universe was bad enough. This Filipino one is worse! Master of None indeed.
This is an update to a post I did two days ago. According to 3 sources that I talked to yesterday, the iPhone 3G will be available in Singapore on August 22. There's more! Singtel customers can get the 8GB or the 16GB iPhone 3G for $0 upfront on one of the more expensive data plans (only on a 2 yr contract) while customers choosing the cheaper plans will have to pay a monthly fee for their data plans in addition to a monthly fee for the handset. Singtel may also be planning to give away free browsing (unlimited data) on all its iPhone 3G plans for the first month.
Singtel will reveal its iPhone 3G data plans and will make its August 22 launch date announcement next week and those of you who had made your iPhone reservations on the Singtel website will also receive more details via email sometime next week.
Just for your info, out of the three sources mentioned above, two of them revealed the date as August 22. The other simply say that Singtel customers will be among the first in Asia to get the iPhone 3G while interestingly pointing out that Bharti Airtel in India and Globe Telecom in Philippines, both invested by Singtel, have announced that they will sell the iPhone on August 22.
Update: It's confirmed and that means I was spot on! Singtel says it will launch iPhone on August 22!
Update: Official Singtel iPhone 3G Price Plans!!!
I have never seen anything like this and I'm sure this has to be the coolest wedding ever. Check out the cool AT-AT Walker wedding cake, the groom and all the guests decked out in Star Wars costumes!
(via Geekdad)
The Boy Scout Store sells loads of spoof merit badges like this one, the Blogging Merit Badge. If this is real, I wonder how does one get a Blogging badge? Blog daily? Know the difference between RSS and Atom?
(Thanks Jon)
Dude has constructed his very own full scale working Batmobile "Tumbler"! He built the bodyparts, brackets and all other external parts himself while the internal of the car and the tires and rims were bought commercially. It looks awesome and I bet he is the most popular guy in town now.
The former crown prince of Nepal notorious for violence and drunk driving rampage and much hated by people back in his country, got into trouble recently in his newly adopted home. Paras who left for Singapore after the monarchy was abolished in his country, was snubbed at a club here. From Gulf Times:
According to the report, last month Paras went to a disco wearing sneakers, jeans and a T-shirt. He was also sporting a pony tail and dark glasses. However, the man who could get away with murder in Nepal, was refused admission by the gatekeeper. Swallowing the snub, the quick-tempered former prince left the disco only to return wearing a suit. He was allowed to go inside this time but decided to leave after a couple of drinks, the report said.You can view photos of him outside the club here. Apparently the website that published the photos later received an sms from someone in Singapore defending Paras but they believed that the sms and the accompanying photos of Paras and a couple of Nepalis were actually from Paras himself.
At the car park, Paras, unused to not having the right of way any longer, picked up a fight with a fellow motorist. As luck would have it, he was noticed by a Nepali who began taking photographs of the quarreling former crown prince. Realising that he was being photographed, Paras got inside his car and left in a hurry, the report said.
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-Guidelines on property agents' commissions removed: The Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) will remove its guidelines on property agents' commissions next month, to fall in line with the Competition Act.
-Ren Ci gets back its IPC status: The Ministry of Health has accorded Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre the status of an Institution of a Public Character (IPC).
-Ngee Ann Sec School uses IM to teach physics: At Ngee Ann Secondary School, teachers have found a way of making the immediate nature of Instant Messaging work to their advantage.
-NUS, NTU bag biggest sums: The National University of Singapore (NUS) drew $112 million and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), $72 million, in their last financial year.
-Singapore seeks one medal in Beijing Olympics: Singapore is expecting to bring home one medal from the Beijing Games and any colour will do.
-US blogger to be tried for insulting Singapore judges: A US national said he will be tried in Singapore next month for allegedly insulting two judges who had presided over cases involving an opposition leader.
-Bandwidth hogs may force ISPs to adopt volume-based charges: Metered charging is already in force overseas and ISPs here, including SingNet, StarHub, and Pacific Internet, say they are also looking at this.
-M1 moves into fixed broadband sector: M1 has ratcheted up competition in the domestic telecoms market by announcing plans to enter the city state’s residential fixed line broadband sector.
-Crocodile 'hunters' on the prowl in Pasir Ris Park: The hunt is on for the crocodile spotted in the mangrove swamp near the Tampines River canal in Pasir Ris Park.
-Support for Sers stays strong: Residents affected by the Housing Board's Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) are still generally happy with the programme, according to an HDB survey.
-Bacteria in water but people still fish: Despite NEA's warning that the water at Pasir Ris Beach contains bacteria, people still fish there.
-1 in 2 Singaporeans would vote a female president: One in two Singaporeans would vote a female President into the Istana, and four in five would accept a woman Cabinet Minister.
My mate Ben Koe has created SGNews, a single Twitter stream of Singapore news from a collection of the best RSS-able Singapore news sites including Topix Singapore which I edit. From The EOK .Network:
1. I collected a bunch of RSS feeds from ChannelNews Asia, The Business Times, TODAY, Yahoo News Singapore, Tomorrow.sg, and Topix Singapore News.
2. To clean up duplicates (because sometimes Yahoo syndicates from CNA), I filter them through Yahoo Pipes to get rid of the repeats and form a single consolidated RSS feed.
3. I put this Piped feed into TwitterFeed which automatically and periodically updates http://twitter.com/sgnews with a nice clean stream of the most current news.
4. Users can Follow http://twitter.com/sgnews and get the most up-to-date news on Singapore from multiple sources.
On Sunday, I blogged about author Tao Lin announcing an "IPO" of his next novel. Someone then left a comment on that post saying that Tao Lin is a fraud. From the comment:
Tao Lin is a bad person. I can’t imagine anyone with his lack of morals and ethics being a worthwhile writer. He is working on this scheme, as well as other scams, because his parents can’t send him the money that supported him his life now that the federal government is monitoring closely. Remember, there are still civil actions pending and an SEC judgment against them.Apparently, the person who left this comment, also left similar comments on other blogs. Now Tao Lin has taken noticed of this and has written on his blog about the allegations. From Tao Lin:
...if no mainstream book publishers think his next novel is worth anything, and his current independent publisher thinks it isn’t worth all that much, why should anyone invest in a product like his next novel? The whole project may be fiction.
i thought that for a while and then earlier today i wanted to make a blog post inviting that person to 'guest blog' on this blog for one post so that all that person's shit-talking about me and my parents could be consolidated into one giant shit-talking post; it would probably be the largest, most intense collection of 'anti-tao lin propaganda' on the internet; i would probably feel excited about life having that on my blog, but now i have this plan to try to 'defeat' the person with many 'testimonials' about my actions in concrete reality
This room-sized architectural model of central Shanghai in 2020 is located at the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. It is probably the world's largest scale model of a city.
(Thanks Han)
The New York Times has a cool interactive graphic that shows the design evolution of the Olympic torch from 1936 to the present day.
(Thanks Lord Kimbo)
An anonymous source has revealed to Reuters that SingTel will be launching the 3G iPhone before the end of August. This more or less confirms what I've known all along since April from my own anonymous source.
In an earlier post, I revealed that the launch date is 8.8.2008. Some thought that it's an April Fool's joke and I was initially skeptical too but I went ahead to post it on my blog since it does make a good April Fool's Day post.
Of course now with 8th of August just days away, I don't believe that the date is true and I have yet to receive any indications from my other sources that the launch is within days. For example, SingTel which has received shipment from Apple, has yet to stock the 3G iPhone sets at its Hello stores islandwide. I'll update when I have more info.
Update: Singapore to have its iPhones on August 22 - Sources
"34x25x36" (video above) is the 3rd segment in Jesse Epstein's latest documentary project that explores issues of female body image, perfection and religion. How does one define the perfect woman? The people at the Patina V Mannequin Factory believe they may just have the answer.
The following are stories that are making the headlines over at Topix Singapore News today, edited by yours truly.
-Singaporeans put a lot into passwords: Singapore’s citizens are accustomed to the government knowing who they are when they access e-government services.
-More elderly in Singapore taking their own lives: Among those aged 65 years and above, suicides increased from 69 in 2006 to 87 last year.
-More fast-food joints offer healthier choices: The Health Promotion Board (HPB) said that more fast-food joints in Singapore have come up with healthier offerings as part of its Healthier Dining Programme.
-Brand-new TV service to be shown over the Internet: From Monday to Friday, ST RazorTV will offer eight hours of news and lifestyle programmes.
-Baby woes not just bosses’ fault: Out of 1,000 mums surveyed, 3 in 5 would say “no, thanks” to having a new bundle of joy in their households, even if they could resolve domestic and work issues.
-Expecting a baby? Expect to be fired if you are in a SME: Women in small and medium-sized enterprises are pressured into cutting short their three-month maternity leave or forced to take no-pay maternity leave and some get fired for being pregnant.
-Some households to try device that monitors power consumption: The National Environment Agency (NEA) is piloting the use of a tracking device that will help consumers know exactly how much they are paying for various appliances in the house.
-Smaller charities to benefit under new accounting rules: Singapore's accounting body for companies and charities has drawn up new guidelines to bring all charities, co-operatives and societies here under one common set of accounting benchmarks for the first time.
-S'pore Airlines' A380 superjumbo makes 1,000th flight: More than nine months after it started flying the Airbus 380 superjumbo, Singapore Airlines on Monday marked the jet's 1,000th flight.
-Singapore ranked best place to be an expat: Singapore is the best place to live if you're an expatriate, according to a study conducted by HSBC Bank International.
Looks like my hopes of meeting a Martian is fading. Aviation Week which first reported that the White House was briefed by NASA about potential of life on Mars now say that the Phoenix data is like to be more negative and that no life has been found on Mars by the Phoenix lander. Darn it! From Aviation Week:
AviationWeek.com reported Aug. 1 and Aviation Week & Space Technology reports today that the new information involves the "potential for life" on Mars. That potential can either be positive or negative, and the new data indicate the new soil tests are at best inconclusive, according to the information being released on the soil chemistry experiment.A substance called perchlorate, a natural and manmade highly oxidizing salt sometimes found in soil and groundwater, has been found in the second Martian soil test. Perchlorate is the main ingredient in solid rocket fuel and NASA's Phoenix scientists are now investigating whether the substance could have gotten there by contamination before launch. From AP:
An initial soil test by the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument indicated that the soil is highly Earth-like. The second test, however, is leading scientists to view the data as more inconclusive.
Other media outlets and websites around the world incorrectly reported that the "potential for life" meant that actual life on Mars had been detected. Coverage by Aviation Week states that the wet chemistry experiment can not detect life, nor can any other Phoenix instrument such as the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) organics experiment.
Phoenix detected the salt through a chemistry experiment. The lander mixed soil with water brought from Earth into a teacup-size beaker and stirred it. Two dozen sensors inside the beaker detect the soil's pH and probe for traces of mineral nutrients.
The first test determined the soil was slightly alkaline and contained nutrients such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride necessary for living things. The second test found the highly reactive perchlorate.
Scientists want to confirm their results because another Phoenix instrument that bakes and sniffs soil samples found no evidence of perchlorate during a run on Sunday.
thisissand.com is a digital sandbox that changes the pixels on the screen into digital sand that can be used as building material for cosmic landscapes, Clemens-style sand paintings, mandalas, etc. Check out the gallery for user submitted works.
What happens when you translate the Garfield comics from English to Chinese and then back again using the web translation service offered by Yahoo or Google? You'll probably get something like this.
(Thanks Daniel)
I'm not too sure how this is done but I'm guessing that the dude who made this Cassette Tape Skeleton must have spent hours carefully and skillfully heating the cassette tapes so that they melt onto the bones.
Dude makes this amazing Wonderland Expedition Kit as a birthday gift for his girlfriend who is a big fan of Alice In Wonderland. The kit contains "artifacts, specimen and ephemera salvaged from the Wonderlands". Damn! Now every Alice in Wonderland fangirl will demand a similar kit from their boyfriends for their birthday.
Make your own cola using this online, open source recipe. Surprisingly it really does taste like real Coke. A bit sweeter but less acidic. If you are too lazy to go out and buy the ingredients, just grab one of their kits.
For those of you who missed the live webcast of the Total Solar Eclipse that took place on Friday, here is a clip (video above) from NASA TV. Or if you prefer a view of the eclipse from a plane flying at 27000 ft, watch it here. Enjoy.
Previously:
Live: August 1, 2008 Total Solar Eclipse
No solar eclipse for Singapore today!
Double Wires is a flash game probably inspired by Spider-Man that is very fun and easy to play - perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
(Thanks Mr Big)
Ok. Maybe not Martians but definitely something big. The White House is being briefed by NASA's Phoenix scientists about something more "provocative" than the recent discovery of water on the surface of Mars. I just pray that there will be no cover-ups and please God, let there be Martians. From Universe Today:
According to scientists in communication with Aviation Week & Space Technology, the next big discovery will need to be mulled over for a while before it is announced to the world. In fact, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory science team for the MECA wet-chemistry instrument that made these undisclosed findings were kept out of the July 31st news conference (confirming water) so additional analysis could be carried out, avoiding any questions that may have revealed their preliminary results. They have also made the decision to discuss the results with the Bush Administration's Presidential Science Advisor's office before a press conference between mid-August and early September.Update: According to the MarsPhoenix Twitter, this report is untrue. Damn! I smell a cover-up already.
In a Cartoon Studio (video above) is a wacky 1931 animation that shows how a cartoon is made.
In what could be the start of a new trend, author Tao Lin is selling 60% of the US royalties of his upcoming novel to the public. It's like an IPO! From Tao Lin:
People who buy shares will also have more meaning in life if they already like and promote my writing, because they can promote my writing and also be making money for themselves, which can be exchanged for "goods" in concrete reality; therefore existential despair due to "having to do what you normally wouldn't be doing if you had a lot of money" can be relieved to some extent. Also it will be "funny" and "interesting" "for everyone" probably if people buy shares. You can call yourself a "producer" of my second novel if you want to do that. This is like a grant or something except it's like the stock market or something. You will be a stockholder in "Tao Lin's Second Novel's U.S. Royalties Corporation." "As people resell their shares the price of each share will go up or down, you will see this conveyed on MSNBC as a number going by on the bottom of the TV screen."
7.51pm: It's totally overcast now and that ends the live coverage of the August 1 2008 Total Eclipse.
7.46pm: The last part of the eclipse will be over soon as the moon races away. You can see how cloudy it is. Pic here.
7.34pm: I thought it's amazing the clouds that were threatening to ruin today's total eclipse suddenly cleared seconds before totality began and after the totality ended, they creeped in again. Now they are continuing to cover the partially eclipsed sun. Pic here.
7.25pm: More of the sun appears. Pic here.
7.16pm: The sun is quickly creeping out again after totality ended. Pic here.
7.13pm: It's a miracle! The clouds cleared just before totality started. All the totality pics: here, here, here and here.
7.12pm: My apologies. Totality has begun and ended at such a quick pace that I am struggling to get all the pics up live for you.
7.06pm: It's getting really close to totality! Pic here. Please clouds. Don't spoil this one.
7.05pm: The sun has come out! Still cloudy though.
7.02pm: 8 minutes to totality and it looks like we are going to have a washout! argh!
7.00pm: Apparently it's totally cloudy now over the parts of China that can see the eclipse. I'm checking if the Russian feed has clear sky.
6.56pm: Doesn't look good. Clouds are covering the sun now. Pic here. Damn it! The sun has just disappeared behind the clouds as I write this.
6.52pm: Close up pic of the partial eclipse. No sunspots are seen.
6.45pm: Partial eclipse is already underway. Pic here.
Note: All times are local Singapore time. Pics taken off the LIVE feed from NASA TV and Exploratorium on location in China.
Computers are evolving so quickly nowadays and so is Sony as it attempts to raise computing to the next level and evolve its popular VAIO products to bring enriching personal experiences. Yesterday, I attended the media launch of 3 new Sony VAIO notebook lines at the beautiful Fullerton Hotel together with some bloggers hosted by my mate Ben from Hill & Knowlton.
Sony also introduced the media to its new slogan "Closer to you" and VAIO now stands for "Visual Audio Intelligent Organizer". Both symbolise Sony's continued aspirations to push the technology envelope to bring computing closer to its customers.
The 3 new notebook lines launched yesterday by Sony are the VAIO Z, VAIO FW and VAIO SR series, each featuring unique technologies that make it relevant to different customers.
The VAIO Z series is Sony's flagship notebook. Powered by Intel Centrino 2 Processor Technology, it weighs at a mere 1.48 kg and it is 10% smaller than previous models thanks to its new 12-layer high-density mounting board. It has two graphics processors – NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS GPU for full graphics acceleration and Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD for maximum mobile usage – that users can switch from one to another easily without rebooting the system. You can choose SPEED (full graphics acceleration) or STAMINA (maximum battery life) mode. The VAIO Z has a light yet durable carbon fibre body and a scratchless super slim 13.1-inch Clear Tough LCD display, which has a 16:9 aspect ratio at 1600 x 900 pixels.
The VAIO Z comes in two models: the VGN-17GN/B that ships with Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P9500 (2.53 GHz), 4GB DDR3 SRAM and a 320GB hard disk drive and the VGN-16GN/B comes with Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40 GHz), 2GB DDR3 SRAM and a 250GB hard disk drive. The VAIO Z series will be available in Singapore from September 2008.
While the VAIO Z is aimed at meeting the demands of executives searching for the ultimate in mobile computing, the VAIO FW series is the ultimate entertainment notebook. It has an impressive 16.4-inch wide Clear Bright LCD [Rich Colour] display with the same 16:9 aspect ratio of HD LCD TVs and produces a remarkable 1600 x 900 resolution for beautiful playback of HD-format movies and personal HD videos. Selected models (VGN-FW13GU/H) comes with Blu-ray Disc drive that has both read and write capability, allowing users to store up to 50GB of HD video content on a single disc. All models come with Dolby Sound Room suite pre-installed, dedicated AV control buttons conveniently located at the top of the keyboard, an HDMI interface for easy connection to HD LCD TVs and a super-sharp, 1280 x 1024-pixel MOTION EYE camera.
The VAIO FW series comes in two models: the VGN-FW13GU/H is powered by Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53 GHz) with 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM and 320 GB hard disk drive and the VGN-FW12G/B,W has an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26 GHz), 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM*3 (upgradeable up to 4 GB) and 250 GB hard disk drive.
The VAIO FW series will be available in Singapore from August 2008 at an estimated recommended retail price starting from S$2,499. It is available in Titanium Grey, White and Black.
Lastly, the third new VAIO line is the VAIO SR series. It features a never-before-seen “Switch” function that instantly changes the notebook’s personality to match different usage needs. The “Switch” function is pre-configured with three modes, all of which are customisable with drag-and-drop ease, giving users the freedom to quickly tailor the notebook for optimal usability. For example, when at work, a simple press on the conveniently located Mode key sets the desktop and five programmable buttons for business tasks. At home, another press on the key transforms the VAIO SR into a full-featured home entertainment centre.
The VAIO SR also comes equipped with a 13.3-inch Clear Bright LCD display, MOTION EYE camera and microphone and utilises HDD Protection, a safety feature that secures the disk head in the event the machine is bumped or dropped while running. It is slim and weighs less than 2 kg.
The VAIO SR series comes in two models, both powered by Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26 GHz): VGN-SR13GN/B,/S,/P has 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM (upgradeable up to 4 GB) and 250 GB hard disk drive and the VGN-SR12G/B,/S,/P comes with 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM (upgradeable up to 4 GB) and 200 GB hard disk drive.
The VAIO SR series will be available in Singapore from August 2008 at an estimated recommended retail price starting from S$2,199. It is available in Black, Silver and Pink.
In addition to the hardware advancements made by Sony, the new (and future) VAIO notebooks also feature software technology that makes sense to consumers. These smart applications include VAIO Media Plus, VAIO Music Box and VAIO Movie Story. Richardson Lau from Sony Singapore was kind enough to demo two of them for me.
The VAIO Music Box (video above) allows users to go beyond navigating their music by Artist, Album, Year and Genre. The software has the ability to analyse chord, tempo, mood and melody to give 24 different playlist channels which may describe the mood that the user is in such as “Rainy Day”, “Meditation” or “Energized”.
The powerful VAIO Movie Story application (video above) users to get creative with their video clips, digital photos and music collection. Through just three simple steps, users are able to create professional-looking movie clips that family and friends can enjoy.
More pics here.
Update: You can also read this post on Computer Shopper here.
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